


Meeting Royalty

by SleepingReader



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Based on headcanons, Birthday, Callum is 8, Children, Comfort, Ezran is 4, Family, Found Family, Friendship, Gen, Gren is about 18, Gren is good with kids, Humor, Promotion, Sign Language, The kids lov him almost as much as I do
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-02
Updated: 2018-10-02
Packaged: 2019-07-24 00:42:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16170086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleepingReader/pseuds/SleepingReader
Summary: Captain Gren, right-hand man to General Amaya, sunburnt but cheerful, is asked to come with his General to the palace for the birthday of Prince Callum. He believes his job there is purely diplomatic, as a translator and an interpreter.But it's hard to be diplomatic when you suddenly find yourself as a part of a family.Or: A series of headcanons about Gren put into a fic because I lov him.





	Meeting Royalty

Sunlight streamed into the darkened tent as someone entered. General Amaya looked up from her letter and into the sunscreen-slathered face of her poor Captain Gren, who didn’t do very well in this heat. Yet, his cheerful smile remained, and not even blisters on his fingers from wearing hot plate armour in the desert sun seemed to kill his spirit. She admired him for that.

_’Good-morning, General!’_ He signed, the exclamation mark visible in his body language.  
She grinned at him.   
 _'You have grown a moustache.’_ She signed back. He looked surprised, and she directed him to a mirror, where she saw his shoulders shake as he laughed at the sunscreen-moustache he had accidentally painted on his face. He wiped it off.  
_’Thank you for notifying me, that would have been a court-martial had General Amaya noticed it._ ’ he joked, and her grin grew wider, the type of smile only he could conjure. She nodded to him in assent, and then held out her letter, changing the subject.

He read the letter incredibly fast, faster than she ever could, and then signed enthusiastically to her.  
_’An invitation to the palace, to celebrate Prince Callum’s birthday? That sounds great! When will you be leaving? How long will you be staying there? I can hold the-_ ’  
She stopped his signing there, putting her hands on his to silence him.

_’I want you to come. Meet my family. The Princes. My sister and brother-in-law. And The Asshole.’_ Here she indicated to Lord Viren, whom she hadn’t liked since the beginning. _’You’ll help me, and them. Plus, you’re going to have to talk to the King one day, seeing as you’re bound to be a diplomat._ ’  
Captain Gren beamed in excitement. His hands talked fast, thanking her for this opportunity. When he was done, she signed one last thing.  
_’Bet you’re glad you’re going to be out of the sun for a while.'_

 

They rode for a couple of days, both on their grey horses, packing light. Desert made way to marshland, marshland made way to forests and glens. When they finally arrived at the capital of Katolis, Gren felt his nerves get the best of him.  
Butterflies in his stomach kept telling him he’d fail, that he’d make a fool of himself. That Amaya would send him away to school, or somewhere else in the Army. He vowed to himself that he would be on his best behaviour.  
_Diplomatic Gren only, no jokes._  He told himself.  
Next to him, Amaya checked her saddle-bag to see if the gift she bought her nephew was still there. It was. The beautiful box of different watercolours was still safely in its bag, next to the brushes that Gren had helped her pick out.  
She noticed Gren steel himself, and smiled slightly. She wondered who would make him break out of his Diplomatic-Gren character: her sister, Harrow, or one of the kids.

They were welcomed warmly in the palace by Amaya’s sister, who explained that Callum’s birthday would be celebrated quietly, just some members of the family, plus Gren.  
To Amaya’s delight, Lord Viren was on business somewhere else and had taken his children with him.  
‘Bring-your-kids-to-work-day,’ Queen Sarai had called it when they walked through the halls.

Ever the diplomat, Captain Gren stood and walked slightly behind General Amaya, being able to see her hands and help her out whenever needed.  
She didn’t need help talking to her sister however, for they spoke fluently in sign-language. Gren was therefor able to look around at the general splendour and the old tapestries.

When they met King Harrow, however, it was another case.  
_’He’s been practising.’_ Sarai said as they approached the throne room, signing and speaking at the same time. Amaya raised an appreciating eyebrow.

The doors were opened by a guard, and the three walked in to see Harrow standing near the window, his bird perched upon his shoulder.  
_’King Harrow,’_ , Amaya signed and bowed to him. _’Good to see you again.’_

_’Strawberry!_ ’ Harrow signed, nodding wildly and making his bird sway on his shoulder. ' _Good strawberry, many sharks. Journey?'_ Harrow signed enthusiastically.  
Amaya, barely holding it together, was nudged by her sister.  
_’Practising badly._ ’ Sarai said, slapping her hand to her face.

Behind Amaya, Gren was keeping a straight face by repeating ... _Diplomatic diplomatic diplomatic..._ in his head as a mantra.  
’I think it’s better if Gren translates for you, love.’ Sarai said, while signing the same to Amaya.  
Amaya nodded to her, and pointed to Gren. She signed as he translated.

‘This is Captain Gren, my interpreter. He is a great diplomat and also a sunburnt baby who repeats everything I say.’ Gren told the King, as deadpan as Amaya signed it.  
_...Diplomatic diplomatic diplomatic..._ Gren told himself, as he knelt before the King.  
‘Pleased to meet you, My Lord.’ he said.

Unknown to Gren, Harrow was also repeating the same sort of mantra, trying not to laugh.  
’Pleased to meet you, too, Gren,’ Harrow said as Gren rose up. ‘I can see you are already a great diplomat.  
‘Come. Callum and Ez are waiting in the dining hall.’

 

Once in the dining hall, Amaya strode quickly to her two nephews and lifted them up bodily while they giggled and embraced her. Then she introduced them to Gren, in simpler words this time so Ezran could understand.  
‘This is Gren, my voice. They say he can also whistle like the birds, but I have no idea if he can.’ Gren said as Amaya signed. Then, proving her point, he briefly imitated a oniq bird.  
Four-year old Ezran was delighted and clapped his hands as Amaya presented now eight-year-old Callum with his gifts. The boy was thrilled, and would have gone into a corner to draw with the pretty watercolours if dinner hadn’t arrived at that moment.

During dinner, Amaya and her sister flashed rapid-fire sign-language at each other, with Callum joining in sometimes. _The boy must have a photographic memory,_  Amaya thought.  
As he wasn’t needed at the moment, Gren made polite conversation with Harrow, who tried his very hardest not to ask Gren to imitate more birds.

 

When dinner was over, and the birthday cake had been eaten, the boys were allowed to go play in the sitting room while the adults sat near the fire to chat some more. Ezran played with some sort of frog-creature, while Callum sat near him and drew in his sketchbook with his new watercolours.

After a while, he shyly walked over with a brand new drawing. It depicted the group around the fire, but each had their own pet.  
Sarai had a white-and-purple cat with three eyes curled on her lap, Amaya had a wolf-dog sitting next to her, tongue lolling out, with its head on her lap, Harrow has his own pet bird Pip on his shoulder… and Gren… Gren had a beautifully rendered oniq bird on the back of his chair, who seemed to be nuzzling him.  
‘That’s beautiful, Prince Callum!’ Gren praised, not able to keep his enthusiasm to himself. ‘Your use of lines and colours are astounding!’ he said, absent-mindedly signing the same.  
‘Do the bird again!’ Ezran requested, having looked at the drawing himself and was toddling over to the group, hauling his grumpy-looking frog.  
Amaya raised an eyebrow at Gren, saying _’Well?’_  
In response, Gren trilled the birdsong again. Ezran clapped. Callum smiled at the praise and the imitation.  
King Harrow seemed uneasy, as if he wanted to say something. He kept fidgeting.  
Queen Sarai had seen enough. ‘Harrow, just _ask_ ’  
‘Can you do other birds? Like Pip?’ Harrow asked quickly, as excited as his two sons. Pip cheeped.  
Gren cheeped back. Pip looked frantically around the room, trying to find the other bird. Harrow laughed while Ezran tried to imitate the bird, too.  
  


Later, Harrow sat talking to Callum while Amaya and Sarai were gossiping in sign-language.  
Gren felt a small hand on his knee. Ezran clambered onto Gren’s lap, his frog in his arms. Strange, wasn’t the frog orange a second ago?  
‘Oh, hello! And who’s this?’ Gren asked the boy.  
‘This is Bait!’ Ezran said. ‘He’s a glow toad! Wanna pet him?’ He asked.  
’Oh, uhm, sure!’ Gren replied, and gently pet the glow toad on his head. Bait growled happily and turned orange again.  
‘What else can you do? ‘sides birds?’ Ezran asked.  
Gren was stumped. He wasn’t often asked about his talents, save from the day where he had the job interview with Amaya.  
Luckily, she answered for him, clapping to get their attention.  
‘Gren can do shadow-puppets.’ She signed while he translated.  
‘Can you?’ Ezran asked.  
In response, Gren gently set Ezran on the floor. He walked over to the wall where the light of the fire was reflected. He moved his hands, and suddenly a butterfly appeared, which somehow transformed into a frog, which raised its head and howled at the moon as a wolf. Even Callum stopped drawing to watch.  
Ezran quickly began shouting out his favourite animals.

Gren was so invested in his shadow-puppets that he started a little when a large dragon appeared on the wall. He looked back at Amaya, who had been making the dragon using her hands and one of her gauntlets to simulate spikes and wings.  
_’Only one I can do’_ she signed quickly at him, grinning.  
Gren responded by making a bunny, and having it hop forward to the dragon.  
Soon, Sarai joined in, and then Harrow. Together, they improvised a story for the boys, about a man (Harrow) who lost his pet dragon and met all sorts of animals in search of it.

When the party was over, the boys were sent to get ready for bed. They came back down to bid the rest good-night. It seemed Callum had taught Ezran to sign _good-night_ to Amaya, who hugged her nephews happily and signed back.  
‘Goodnight, Gren, and thank you for the birds!’ Ezran said cheerfully, as he hugged Gren’s leg. Gren knelt down to hug him back.

After she had tucked her sons into bed, Queen Sarai came down with two drawings.  
‘Callum told me to give you these’ she said, handing the drawings to Gren and signing the same to Amaya.  
Amaya’s drawing depicted her riding atop a mighty dragon, over a forest. She smiled at it softly. Then she turned to Gren, who looked like he was trying not to cry.

_’What’s wrong?’_ she asked.  
_’ **LOOK**.’_ he signed back, handing her his drawing.  
It was a drawing of Gren himself, sitting in a meadow, surrounded by birds. It seemed Callum had used every type of orange he could make, plus a lovely peacock blue for Gren's coat.   
_’It’s so pretty!'_  Gren signed.  
_’Yes it is.’_ she said. Then, inclining her head, she signed: ' _Talk to Harrow for me. There’s one last thing to discuss.'_

‘King Harrow,’ she signed, while Gren spoke. ‘Now we are alone, I must ask you for a favour.’  
‘And what would that be?’ Harrow asked, now in the voice of a king rather than that of a father.  
‘I wish to promote one of my officers to the rank of Commander.’ she said.  
‘I believe have the same idea, General. There is one in particular who is deserving, I think?’ Harrow said, only a hint of slyness in his voice.  
‘I believe we do.’ Gren said for Amaya. ‘I will let him know at once. Come, Commander Gren, we should inform the lucky person.’ Gren said.   
‘Wait. "Commander _"_  Gren?’ he asked, breaking his role and looking questioningly at his General.  
Amaya turned to him.  
_’Yes, "Commander" Gren. You have proven yourself more than worthy of the rank. My nephews love you, which was the only test that remained._ ’ She signed to him.

‘But… But I wasn’t even diplomatic!’ Gren protested.  
‘You were kind to my sons while you didn’t know them. You didn’t treat them as princes, you treated them as children. That’s diplomacy enough for me.’ Sarai said while she signed for Amaya’s sake.  
‘And your conversation at dinner spoke of true wisdom, more than your years.’ Harrow told him. ‘You are worthy of the rank, "Commander"’.  
Amaya clapped Gren on the shoulder, and Gren could only blush.  
‘We will stay for two more days’ Amaya signed, while Gren took his place by her side again and translated. ‘Then we must return to the Breach, and the desert.’

_Very well,’_ Harrow signed. _’The explosion will make your rooms strawberry.’_  
_’He’s learning’_ Amaya told Gren, satisfied.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked reading this as much as I liked writing this! If you did, please leave a comment!  
> If you didn't, I hope you find a fic more to your liking soon! 
> 
> I did my bestest, but please tell me if I made a mistake in the sign-language parts, I don't have a beta reader and am not very experienced with writing for deaf characters. That having said: Amaya could come to my house and break all of my cups and I'd probably thank her. 
> 
> Kudos and comments keep me writing, hit me up if you want something specific!  
> sleepingreader.tumblr.com


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